Iraq blasts leave 22 dead

A trio of car bombs killed 22 people in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi on Sunday, in attacks that spotlight an increase in violence in Anbar province.

The site of a car bomb attack in RamadiPhoto: REUTERS

8:30PM BST 11 Oct 2009

A car packed with explosives rammed into a concrete wall at the provincial police headquarters. It was followed by a motorcycle bomb that was detonated among the crowd of police and bystanders who had rushed to the scene to help. A third blast, another car bomb, went off outside of the city's main hospital.

Explosions coming in quick succession, designed to target rescuers and security forces who rush to the scene to assist, were a hallmark of al-Qaeda in Iraq during the height of the Sunni insurgency.

Sunday's attacks follow a bombing last week in another Anbar city, Fallujah, in which a car bomb tore through an open-air market, killing at least eight people. At least seven people were killed in late September in Ramadi when a suicide bomber slammed a tanker truck packed with explosives into a police outpost.

Anbar province was the scene of some of the most intense fighting by US troops during the insurgency. Violence tapered off significantly after local tribes decided to align themselves with US forces instead of al-Qaeda in one of the key turning points of the Iraq war.

A reinvigorated insurgency would pose a grave danger to the country's fragile stability as it prepares for crucial parliamentary elections early next year.